B.Light Design

I’ve been meaning to enter this contest for a long time now.

I turned a champagne cork on the lathe. An homage to the Eames Walnut Stools.

I was in the Poconos a couple of weeks ago and turned two lamp blanks: one birch (the tall one), one maple (the fat one). Both turned green and allowed to crack. Need to dry them out completely (nuke them) before I can add the finish.

Two oak spheres turned while wood was green and allowed to dry and crack naturally. One is 6 inches in diameter, the other is about 5. The oak tree fell naturally at my parent’s place in the Poconos. Finished with walnut oil and furniture wax.

They are now for sale.

Finished up a new lamp. An oak tree fell naturally at parent’s place in the Poconos. I took one of the logs and turned a small base.

I finished it with stain and tung oil. It was my first time using tung oil, I really liked the results. Lamp hardware is from Grand Brass.

Just about every week, someone on my block throws out one of those ugly floor lamps. You know, that lamp you owned in college.

I’ve saved some from the dump from time to time (always making sure the neighborhood dogs haven’t gotten to them first), they’re great for parts. I’ve used the cords, sockets, and switches for some of the lamps I’ve built. But I have a lot of pipes from the base lying around.

So I cut some down, capped them with some turned pieces of scrap, and now I have this canister. But until I find a treasure map or need to deliver the antidote to a deadly nerve toxin, I have nothing to put in it.

I turned birch for the first time a few weeks ago. I didn’t have high hopes for it, never heard of anyone really turning it before. Long story short, birch is great. It has a really interesting grain and can be turned very thin when it’s green (so thin that it will crack if you drop it). And I’m pretty happy with how these small lamp shades turned out.

Oak cracks, no two ways about it.

I knew the base would crack, hoped it wouldn’t, and now I’m telling myself that the cracks add character.

This lamp base has a shape similar to Jess’s Lamp. I’m thinking I’ll pair it with the stained glass lamp shade I’m still working on.

Last time I was at my parent’s house, I “liberated” a few logs from the neighbors firewood pile. Freshly cut maple logs, perfect for some thin-walled turnings. I turned a test piece for a lamp shade. Well, it only became a test piece after the wood cracked.

I drilled the through hole and oiled it up Friday morning.

I might be making a few more trips to the neighbors.

Hi, I’m Ben, and I’m a lathe lover. Hi Ben.

My lathe is a dinky little guy, but I love what it can do. I love that you can actually make something in a few hours. I love that you can sand and finish a piece in minutes. I love that you can turn a log into a lamp. A log.

I took a wooden bowl turning class at the YWCA years ago, it was taught by Michael Brolly. I’ve been hooked ever since. I highly recommend you getting yourself a lathe or taking a turning class. Or you could always just learn from the man himself.